Birthright

The spring issue of Contact: The Journal of the Steinhardt Foundation for Jewish Life enlists a dozen of the foremost thinkers on Jewish philanthropy to talk about the state of fund raising. With the Steinhardt Foundation’s permission, The Fundermentalist will republish over the next two weeks pieces from the likes of the foundation’s president, Bob Aronson,… More ▸

Birthright NEXT has announced new professional and lay leadership, among plans for expansion. NEXT, the well-funded, but somewhat embattled follow up program to Birthright Israel announced today in Phoenix that Morlie Levin will become its next CEO and that Al Levitt will become its chairman on May 10. Levin, who was previously the executive director… More ▸

There is an interesting subtext to the Birthright matching grant program we mentioned last week. The came out of a late January summit of 49 major donors held by the foundation in Las Vegas and hosted by Adelson, though he was not in attendance. Of the 49, only three of the 15 original private funders… More ▸

As a JPost writer and the director of Birthright NEXT debate whether there is enough follow-up programing for the 220,000 alumni of Birthright Israel trips, the Jim Joseph Foundation’s Josh Miller says that other organizations can learn from what successful follow-up initiatives have found works: The recent dialogue between Rabbi Daniel Brenner from Birthright Israel… More ▸

The Jewish Federation of Los Angeles took advantage of Sheldon Adelson’s matching grant program, which expires at midnight on New Year’s Eve, to help shorten the waiting list for prospective Birthright Israel participants in the Los Angeles area. The Adelson Family Foundation has been offering a two-to-one matching grant for any new money given to… More ▸

After several years of writing about Sheldon Adelson from afar, I finally got the chance to sit face to face with the casino mogul for a wide-ranging interview Sunday at his suite at the St. Regis Hotel in Manhattan. Adelson, who was in town to be honored by the Zionist Organization of America, has become… More ▸

By the end of 2009, Birthright will have brought 28 groups to Israel on specially tailored trips for participants with special needs, including Asperger’s syndrome, the hearing impaired, the developmentally disabled and wheelchair users. More ▸

A handful of residents from an Ohio retirement community visited Israel for a 12-day mission culminating in a group bar mitzvah in Jerusalem’s Old City — the first bar/bat mitzvah for some of the octogenarians. More ▸

Susie Gelman, the former chairwoman of the Birthright Israel Foundation, and a major federation lay leader of the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington, and one of the official hostso fo this GA, just made a pitch for Birthright in front of a couple of thousand folks at the GA’s second plenary. Birthright advocates have certainly… More ▸